Even ignoring all the spin-offs and special editions Mortal Kombat: Deception marks the sixth iteration of the popular beat em-up franchise and bucking the trend of just about every other games franchise ever the games just keep getting better. Which is actually not quite as big a compliment as you might think considering the original games were, despite their notoriety at the time, really not that great. 2002's Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was though, and this game follows on from its good work to present an engaging mix between Street Fighter, Soulcalibur and Tekken. It's not quite the sum of these parts but it's certainly learned something from each of them. The most obvious change from the previous game though is that this Mortal Kombat doesn't take itself quite as seriously as the last and as such is more in line with Mortal Kombat II, not just in the greater range of outrageous fatalities and deadly background elements but also in the reduced focus on 3D gameplay--such that most of your attacks occur primarily on along a single plane. Taking advantage of this the game sees a return of the generic uppercut move and makes "juggling" a character (hitting them into the air and essentially playing keepy uppies with them) a lot easier. With a slew of new game modes, including the rather ingenious chess mode, there's a good mix here of something new, something old and something borrowed to keep the franchise alive for some time to come. -- David Jenkins